A Texas court scheduled Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby's trial against the NCAA for Feb. 8, 2027, two weeks after the College Football Playoff National Championship is scheduled to be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The 99th District Court in Lubbock County, Texas, where Texas Tech is located, scheduled the trial Monday, the same day a judge granted Sorsby a temporary injunction that might clear him to play for the Red Raiders in 2026 even after the NCAA declared him ineligible for wagering on college sports.
The NCAA has already appealed Judge Ken Curry's ruling to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in Amarillo.
Each of the four justices in the Seventh District -- Chief Justice Judy Parker and Lawrence Doss, Alex Yarbrough and Laura Pratt -- are graduates of the Texas Tech School of Law, according to their online bios.
Curry's ruling was met with outrage by coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners after Sorsby admitted to making thousands of bets on college and professional sports during his career at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech.
Big 12 athletic directors held a conference call Tuesday with commissioner Brett Yormark. While TCU athletic director Mike Buddie and Kansas State AD Gene Taylor have suggested that the league's other teams might elect not to play the Red Raiders this season, the league was still determining what action it could take in light of Curry's ruling.
"We had a thoughtful and productive conversation with our athletic directors today as we continue to work through the broader implications of this situation," Yormark said in a statement from the Big 12. "Many of our athletics directors voiced their opinions. We will continue to have open and honest dialogue amongst the group and until there is something to report, these conversations will remain within the conference."
No immediate action was expected from the Big 12, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel. The Big 12 has a process to address the ruling, and the executive board will meet Thursday to discuss options. That call will likely be followed by a full Big 12 board call early next week.
"The ramifications of today's ruling are significant and could have broad impacts across college athletics, creating great concern amongst our membership," Yormark told ESPN on Monday. "I've been consulting with our key stakeholders and have scheduled meetings with our conference ADs and executive board this week."
Prominent college sports attorney Thomas Mars, who helped Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss obtain a preliminary injunction to play for the Rebels this season after the NCAA denied his application for a retroactive medical redshirt for the 2022 season at Division II Ferris State, said he believes the Big 12 can take action against Texas Tech for using a player who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible after it discovered he wagered approximately $90,000 on professional and college sports over four years, including 40 bets involving Indiana football when he was a freshman with the Hoosiers in 2022. The NCAA denied Texas Tech's appeal for reinstatement Friday.
"There is no question that the Big 12 could impose draconian sanctions on Texas Tech, and the type of sanctions would only be limited by their creativity," Mars told ESPN on Tuesday. "The Big 12 is not party to the Texas lawsuit and is, therefore, not enjoined from doing anything."
Big 12 Bylaw 3.6 allows for the conference to sanction a member with a supermajority vote of disinterested directors after "representatives of the Member(s) that are subject of such vote has been given reasonable prior notice and the reasonable opportunity to be present and to be heard."
Among other reasons, the bylaw allows for the Big 12 to discipline a member for being "engaged in any action or a course of conduct materially adverse to the best interests of the Conference taken as a whole."
The bylaws allow for the disinterested directors to "be empowered to determine whether any Sanctions are appropriate, the type, extent, and conditions to any Sanctions imposed." The bylaw allows for discipline that includes "prohibitions on appearance in postseason events or televised events, restrictions on revenue distributions, and limitations on recruiting or scholarships."
If the Big 12 elects to discipline Texas Tech, it wouldn't be the first time a college sports conference doled out punishment to one of its members. In November 2023, the Big Ten suspended Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh for the remainder of the regular season under its sportsmanship policy amid the NCAA's investigation into the Wolverines' in-person sign-stealing ring.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti had sole discretion to discipline Harbaugh and Michigan under that league's bylaws.
Attorneys representing Michigan and Harbaugh filed a breach of contract complaint in state court and sought an emergency temporary restraining order against the Big Ten, which would have allowed Harbaugh to continue coaching.
Michigan and Harbaugh later dropped the complaint.
In October 2018, the Big 12 fined Baylor University $2 million for "reputational damage to the conference and its members" stemming from a sexual assault investigation that engulfed the school's football program.
After an independent report found that the university failed to follow Title IX legislation and adequately investigate allegations of sexual assault against members of the football team, Baylor fired coach Art Briles. Baylor president Kenneth Starr was demoted and later resigned, and athletic director Ian McCaw was suspended and also resigned.